Labels

We all use labels to define the people we interact with in our environment. He’s a liberal, she’s a conservative, that person over there is a slob, on and on we label throughout the day. It’s a natural thing to do. Part of our nature I guess. It helps us understand our surroundings by tucking people we meet or see into nice little cubby-holes for future reference. Sometimes we update these judgments with new information as it comes to us but often as not we hold the same opinions of others that we established when we first met them. Remember first impressions are usually right or at least we’ve been told.

Believe me I label as much as anyone. It’s not going to stop with one blog or a thousand blogs by me or anyone else. It’s just a fact, we in the human condition, label. Plain and simple, we label and that’s the end of it. Or is it?

Even though we may label one another as individuals or in groups doesn’t mean we can’t actually use it to our advantage both personally and as a way to change our society. Labeling actually can be a good thing. Studies have shown that when a child is labeled, whether negatively or positively, they usually live up to that expectation. Barring learning disabilities and other emotional problems, when a child is told they are smart and intelligent they usually rise to the occasion and deliver. Maybe not to a genius level but they do better in school and in society as a whole. Tell them either verbally or through other messages that they are worthless they become worthless. Both to themselves and society.

Let’s all begin labeling for the good. Right now our society needs good labeling. We need to stop using labels to tear down and begin to use them to build up. What our country needs now more than ever are the labels innovator, mentor, problem solver, creative thinker, inventor, visionary, and leader. We need to not only start labeling our children with such labels to give the future hope, but also give those labels to each other and ourselves.

We need inventors, that’s a wonderful positive label. We need men like Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Alexander Graham Bell. Men like these didn’t invent in a corporate lab off somewhere in a huge corporate complex. These men and many like them invented in their humble homes and small workshops with little or no resources. They invented things that changed the world without huge budgets and lots of fancy equipment. Yet they persevered because they believed in their ideas. We need these kind of people now. Inventing new products that will sustain our economy for years to come. Just as Steve Jobs and Bill Gates did so many years ago in their garages. Hewlett-Packard started that way as well.

It not just inventors we need. We need leaders, creative thinkers, and problem solvers in all sorts of realms. Leaders that will stand up for good ideas and see them through. Creative thinkers and problem solvers who will blaze the trail for the rest of us and give us hope for solutions to our problems. No longer do we need wet blankets or people who only know the word no.

We need people with good judgment, good morals, and good ethics to help us fix what’s so badly broken…our nations spirit. We need compassionate people to heal the wounds of those who are hurting the most. We need good upstanding Americans to stop being negative and start seeing themselves and those around them positively.

This is how positive labeling works. Look at your neighbor, find a positive label for him or her and apply it to them every time you think about them or interact with them. See how your attitude changes about them. Now do it with all of those you interact with. Do it with your boss, your clients, your teachers, your wife and/or children. Do it with everyone you meet. Watch how things change not just for you but watch how those you come in contact with begin to blossom as people.

You see if we try hard enough we can always find one positive label for anybody. If we emphasize that instead of the negatives we might see we begin to see a world of possibilities instead of obstacles. As we begin to do this we can all label ourselves visionaries because that’s what we need now more than ever…visionaries. Heed the call, be a visionary, change the world. It starts with you.

If I can be of any help to any visionary small business owner struggling to tell her or his story please contact me at mirvin1129@yahoo.com or give me a call at 913-677-7060.

Trickle Down Doesn’t Work

We tried it for 12 years starting in 1980. We tried it again starting in 2000 for eight years. I think we finally are getting it. Trickle down economics doesn’t work. It might as a theory but in real-life it just doesn’t work. Why? Because of the human factor. But this blog is not about a discussion of greed and morals. Let’s explore a better way.

In case you haven’t noticed the way we do business is changing. Changing very fast. In the past few months we as a country have seen many large corporations and banks that we thought were solid as rocks suddenly appear at Washington’s door-step asking for bail-outs. Maybe had they been trickling down over the years to those below them our economy would not be in the shape its in now. Instead they chose the way of rewarding upper management way beyond the limits of common sense whether they performed well or not. Even while taking bail outs from the public trough they still gave out outrageous bonus’ to undeserving employees and managers. Where I come from if you don’t do your job well you’re shown the door not given a bonus, but that’s a topic for another day.

It’s time to change the thinking concerning how we do business today. With the technology available today we don’t have to be depended on large corporations and their lumbering bureaucratic structures to provide this country with jobs. This country wasn’t founded by large corporations, it was founded by small businessmen looking to create an environment that would nurture capitalism, not stifle it. Today, we are those people, the small business owners who will save this economy.

How can we save it? How can we, the small business owners, ever hope to save this economy? By our shere numbers. People who are feed up with being laid off at the slightest hint of a down turn, people who are tired of seeing good ideas die by committee on the conference table. People who are smart, thinking, innovative, and visionary, are fed up with large corporations and by the thousands are starting their own small businesses.

This is the revolution that this country needs. Thousands of small companies will strengthen our economy by diversifying it. By not having all of our eggs in one basket we become stronger as a nation. The time is right for a new idea.

Let’s send a message to the people at the top. We are fed up with your greed, your inability to lead, and your antiquated ways. We, the people, are now standing up and saying enough is enough. We are now calling the shots. From now on we are going to be a country of trickle up, not down. We, the small businesses of this nation, will, by our vast numbers, run this economy from here on out. We will innovate, revolutionize, and completely overhaul this economy. In doing so WE will reap the benefits, not the large companies. WE will trickle up what’s left over after we have had our fill, and we will play the tune that the rest will march to. Now is the time for all small businesses to pledge their support to this new way of thinking.

We need to learn how to do things faster, better and more productively. We need to cut out the waste and learn to operate lean and mean. We need to support each other collectively so we all succeed. We need to show the big corporations how it should be done. We need to be the leaders who will lead this country into a new era of prosperity. We will by our numbers have power and strength through networking and cooperation, not hateful competition and isolation. We will usher in a new era of doing business that this world has never seen because we are Americans and we have historically lead the world in business. We will create an environment that will nurture the free enterprise system and ensure that it will survive the next century unscathed and intact. We will win this revolution with ideas and innovation. Now in this time of crisis it’s time to stand up and be counted, just as our forefathers did so many years ago.

If I can be of any assistance to any small business owner struggling to get his message out there don’t hesitate to call me at 913-677-7060. Remember we’re all in this together.

Now’s the time to expand

Looks like Pepsi-Cola is pressing forward. Not only have they totally revamped their branding and logo they now have released a “retro” version of its cola. Now made with real sugar (instead of high fructose corn syrup I’m guessing), the flavor is supposed to take us back to a time long ago when we were growing up and swigging a Pepsi on a hot summer day. I’m amazed that in this down economy that they are even advertising. After all the rule of thumb is that when the economy tanks you stop any and all marketing and advertising efforts, right?

Not so fast. It seems that Ford, Chrysler, and GMC, even in financial dire straits, are spending millions on advertising. Is it a last ditch effort to save themselves or good business? I’m sure that’s a topic for hot debate. Yet, I think there’s a lesson to be learned here. When hard times come, keep telling your story. GMC is doing some of their better marketing right now. They are hard selling their product. Giving us the facts, the information needed to make an informed decision. It’s not about style and emotion; it’s about why we should buy GMC instead of somebody else. Sound marketing that they should have been using all along. Maybe if they had been, coupled with a well-engineered product the public wanted, they wouldn’t be in the place they find themselves today.

Small businesses can’t afford to stop their marketing and advertising in this tight economy. No matter how small the effort, owners have to continue on an ongoing basis to tell their story. They must tell their target audience (potential customer) how they can do the job, furnish the service, or provide the product better than their competitors. If they don’t their competitors will and they will lose what market share they have. Now is not the time to pull in but to expand.

I know, marketing and advertising is expensive. Go to an ad agency and it’s like hiring a lawyer, and almost as expensive. Most won’t look at you if you don’t have at least $100K to spend. Try to do it on your own and it is just one more job you have to research and learn before you can do it effectively. So what’s a small business owner to do?

Talent is talent. Marketing and advertising is all about talent. Ad agencies have talent and they charge for it. A small business owner may have undeveloped talent but may not have the time or interest to educate and nurture it. I am one of many talented individuals who has chosen to be part of the growing freelance industry. We are talented, educated, and dedicated individuals who serve the small business community in a variety of ways. We are graphic designers, copywriters, creative project managers, web developers; the list goes on and on. We can provide great work at an inexpensive price. We can expand your small business market by partnering with you, the owner and helping you achieve your marketing goals in this tight economy.

So where do you find freelancers. You can contact someone like me, a Creative Project Manager who will help you pull together a team of people who will fulfill your needs project at a time or you can be your own CPM and hire the necessary people by using an organization like the Freelance Exchange (www.kcfreelanceexchange.com/index.php). This resource gives you access to over 150 talented people to choose from. It all depends on your time constraints.

The beauty of all of this is that you only pay these people when they do the work. There’s no retainer (unless you desire one). There’s no monthly fee. Just payment for the project (each individual is a small business owner and as such each as their own payment policies so be sure to discuss that before signing a contract.) They are a pool of talent that is at your disposal to do as much or as little marketing and advertising as you need, when you need it.

So now you have a resource to draw on and no excuse not to market and advertise your small business. If I can be of any assistance I can be reached by phone at 913.677.7060 or my email at mirvin1129@yahoo.com. Please don’t hesitate to call me. As always the first meeting is free.